Winter Veil 2013: Making a List, Revamping it Twice
by JR Cook - 10 years ago show comments
Although the bulk of the Winter Veil festivities in Azeroth will remain the same as previous years — Metzen the Reindeer just can’t seem to keep away from trouble — there are a few extra gifts that players can expect to find under their trees this year.
Greatfather Winter’s official announcement of the Winter Veil 2013 celebration reveals that in addition to his annually-updated gift, a new Rotten Little Helper battle pet can be obtained for characters of at least level 20. Players can find this new pet by opening a Gaily Wrapped Present once the gifts under the Great Tree go live on December 25th. The full Winter Veil celebration runs from December 16th through January 2nd.
Fed up with long hours, low pay, and entitled adventurers whining about sub-standard Winter Veil gifts, these nasty little creatures fled their magical workshops to join up with the Abominable Greench.
The Rotten Little Helper is a Humanoid-type pet with several special Winter Veil-themed abilities, such as Booby-Trapped Presents and Greench’s Gift. Though, like the other holiday pets, he is by no means a guaranteed drop. He can be caged however, so players finding themselves on RNG’s “Naughty” list or not wishing to risk missing out on this ornery little fellow can always check the Auction House.
The annual Winter Veil gift has also been revealed: the Crashin’ Thrashin’ Flyer Controller will allow you to take to the skies and engage in undoubtedly epic aerial dogfights with your friends. Successfully shoot down another flyer, and you’ll receive an achievement called The Danger Zone. Aviator sunglasses and goofy call signs are not required, but are highly encouraged. For anyone who missed out the first time around, the 2012 Winter Veil gifts, as well as all previous offerings, can now be purchased from Toy Vendors.
Graccu’s Mince Meat Fruitcake, a requirement for ‘Tis the Season (which also goes towards the Merrymaker meta-achievement), will also reportedly be more easily obtainable during the 2013 celebration.
As always, Wowhead has compiled a comprehensive guide for this year’s Winter Veil celebration for those who don’t want to miss a single moment of holiday cheer!
These updates are fairly small in the grand scheme of things. However, small tweaks to other annual world events this year, such as turning the Macabre Marionette into a permanent pet, could be a sign of things to come. Many of the holiday events have remained largely unchanged since the last round of major revamps in Wrath of the Lich King. This means that veteran players may be feeling a bit left out in the cold once they’ve done everything there is to do during the festivities. Slightly less labor-intensive would be continuing the trend of small changes each year to the world events versus complete overhauls and rewrites. But for now, we’ll just have to add it to our Christmas list.
Have you already completed all of your holiday achievements? Would you like to see new content for the world events, or do your interests lie elsewhere? Sound off in the comments and be heard!
